Honor Among Bees

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SWEET REWARDS

Sales at our honey stand have averaged about $100 per week, which should be almost clear profit from now on ... since wax from discarded combs (which we sell to bee supply houses) will just about keep us in supplies and replacement parts.

Because our highway is not a major thoroughfare, we don't anticipate much increase in sales volume, though many folks—who have "busier" locations—sell much more honey than we do. We know of one man who produces 10,000 pounds of honey each year, for instance, and has to buy more from fellow beekeepers to keep his stand supplied. Another acquaintance in the business peddles his honey to fruit markets and fairs ... and yet another beekeeper sells the 5,000 pounds that his insects produce annually to a food co-op.

We're perfectly happy with our little business, though. Our labor is limited to only that which is required, and the exercise, fresh air, and sunshine—in fact, the whole wondrous world of nature—provide us with medicine that no doctor could prescribe.

We often compare our life now with what-might-have-been: If I had stayed with my job—had hung on to that little shred of security—we would never have known the fulfillment of our dream. (And a disabled husband—all alone all day with no goals or challenges to look forward to—wouldn't exactly have been in paradise, either!)

Maybe we don't have much money, but, though our business isn't a quick road to financial abundance, it's sufficient to meet our modest needs. And we haven't allowed illness to dictate all of the rules or stifle all of our desires.

So far, at least, we've made it work. How? Because there is honor in the world ... as well as human kindness and people who love.

A forced retirement can be a tragedy ... but for Laura and Hank Baker it became the fulfillment of an old dream ... and much, much more!

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